


This is not what you think

by elyteracy



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon?, Domestic, M/M, Mystery, Neil has a new friend, Pie, Tea, To read attentively, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 07:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12383946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elyteracy/pseuds/elyteracy
Summary: Andrew and Neil have tea with a neighbor. The woman living on the floor above seems to have disappeared.





	This is not what you think

Neil took the chicken out of the fridge and opened it. He laid the two chicken breasts on the cutting board. He diced them using one of the new knives. They had brought the set last week. It came with a cleaver. Neil felt unsettled when he looked at it sometimes, but it could be useful. It made anything with bones easier to cut. Even thick bones.

They would have to sharpen it if they planned on using it again. The blade was blunt.    
  
Sir kept him company, rubbing against his legs, and meowing loudly for food.

  
  
The TV was running in the background when they sat to eat. It was an Exy program, as it often was. Tetsuji Moriyama's career was ruined, was saying the presenter. It had been ruined for some time, mused Neil, but he was at the very end now.    
  
"You are the one who ruined it," Andrew commented between two bites.   
  
"He brought it on himself."   
  
"I still would want to kill you if I were him."   
  
Neil grinned. "You already want to kill me," he reminded. "But you would do the job yourself."    
  
Andrew tilted his head, as if to say fair enough. “Paying someone isn’t as satisfying. But Tetsuji doesn't give a fuck about satisfaction.”   
  
Neil started to clean up. Andrew's fingers brushed his hand. He'd cut himself last week down his thumb. It left a small scar. It was barely visible along the mess that were his hands. It had been stupid, he'd been distracted. He was better than that with a knife.   
  
Their doorbell rang. Andrew stood up while Neil was in the kitchen.   
  
Pauline, their neighbor, was on the porch, a beautiful pie in her arms. She was a small and elegant lady with gray hair whose age was a mystery. Old, that was all you could say. For how long had she been old, that was the question.    
  
She smiled. "I made a pie, again," she said as a greeting. Pies almost appeared around Pauline. "Would you like some? I can't eat everything by myself."   
  
Andrew let her in. Neil poked his head out of the kitchen and greeted her. He liked her. Andrew didn't mind her, and that was better than most people. The pie was a good incentive.

Neil has helped her with groceries a few months ago. She’d invited him for tea, and Neil, though wary, had accepted. She’d done nothing but stuff him with pie and various crime stories. She had a deep passion for mysteries and murders and had met Agatha Christie once.    
  
Neil and her exchanged a few words in French. She was always delighted to speak her native language.   
  
"Coffee, tea ?" Neil offered. It was more care than he afforded any of their neighbors.   
  
"Tea, thank you."   
  
She sat on their sofa and King jumped on her lap. "Oh, didn't you have a picture on the wall?" She asked, looking at the wall in the entryway.   
  
"It fell. The frame broke, we need to buy a new one," Neil explained as he served her tea.   
  
Andrew cut the pie.   
  
"How did it — oh, Andrew, dear, a smaller slice, if you wouldn't mind — how did it fall?"   
  
Neil held out his plate for Andrew. "A minor scuffle, nothing important. "   
  
"Was it bad? Oh, I'm sorry, that isn't any of my business."   
  
"It's taken care of," Neil reassured. His smile didn't reach his eyes. His thumb rubbed the new scar on his hand.

  
  
Pauline left a bit later, leaving the rest of the pie. "Have you seen Camilla? I'm a bit worried, I haven't heard from her in almost a week," she said on her way out.

Camilla was their upstairs neighbor. She’d moved in three months ago and didn't seem to work much. It was a wonder how she paid for her rent. She was a quiet brown haired woman who held herself eerily still. Andrew didn't like her. She made something itch under his skin.    
  
"Last time I saw her was last week," Andrew said.

“A strange lady. Quite cold. Never said anything. No background, no family,” Pauline mused. “I wouldn't be surprised if she was tangled up in shady business.”

“That’s quite an accusation.”

“Experience, dear,” she said, nodding to herself.

She bid him goodbye and left, humming under her breath. 

  
  
The rest of the day was quiet.   
  
The bathroom still smelled faintly of bleach from the last time Neil had cleaned it. He'd spent an afternoon in the room, scrubbing it from top to bottom. With all the injuries they got, he was used to cleaning blood.

"Don't forget to take the garbage out," he told Neil.   
  
"I'll buy some trash bags and some cat litter at the same time."   
  
Indeed, they needed some. Cat litter was perfect to prevent strong odors. They’d use all they had in advance last week.

 

When Neil came back his hair was mussed from the wind. “It was the last trash bag, wasn't it?”

“It was,” Andrew confirmed, from his seat on the couch.

Neil joined him. He kissed Andrew's temple and made himself comfortable on the sofa. Andrew took the opportunity to tuck his feet under his thigh.

He thought briefly about Camilla, the upstairs neighbor.

Yes, he’d seen her for the last time last week. 

**Author's Note:**

> I think you should go back up and read again. It's just a suggestion, though. It's easy to miss things sometimes.
> 
> What happened with Camilla, the upstairs neighbor? Comment with your theories or hit me up on [tumblr](https://elyteracy.tumblr.com)


End file.
